How is this one: "Fixing Baseball" by Catellier?

[Tyrus4189Cobb]

http://www.fixingbaseball.com/

Sounds really cool. Anyone read it or know anything about it?

[Honus Wagner Rules]

From the link.

"By turning every baseball player's entire career into a number, a new and more accurate Hall of Fame is established. Using the most commonly followed pitching and batting statistics, a new formula is created that gives Cooperstown a complete overhaul, reissues the Cy Young Award to the "real" winners dating all the way back to the start of the Live Ball Era, reformats the annual All-Star Game, creates a brand new season- ending award for hitters, and exposes countless corruptions in the system that runs outside the white lines."

Many BBF posters are going to love this.

[Tyrus4189Cobb]

I'm certainly willing to be the guinea pig. Seems like a good read and, as HWR bolded, that sort of thing is right up my alley. It is the only thing preventing me from curing many of mankind's plagues.

[Dude Paskert]

"I feel like a number...I'm NOT a number!!!"
- Bob Seger

[Tyrus4189Cobb]

About forty pages into it. I like it so far. Has a good amount of subjective number assigning, which is a good thing for me. It allows wiggle room to adjust the formula because we are dealing with human beings, unlike linear weights which gives people the excuse to assign numeric values to every outcome even though they are based solely on how things happened to play out.

[willshad]

From the link.

"By turning every baseball player's entire career into a number, a new and more accurate Hall of Fame is established. Using the most commonly followed pitching and batting statistics, a new formula is created that gives Cooperstown a complete overhaul, reissues the Cy Young Award to the "real" winners dating all the way back to the start of the Live Ball Era, reformats the annual All-Star Game, creates a brand new season- ending award for hitters, and exposes countless corruptions in the system that runs outside the white lines."

Many BBF posters are going to love this.

Hard to tell, but is the author being sarcastic? I certainly hope so.

[Tyrus4189Cobb]

Hard to tell, but is the author being sarcastic? I certainly hope so.

He is not. However, the point is not to turn everyone into a number and rank them absolutely according to his formula. Instead, he converts everyone's career into a measurable number using a formula he calls the Hall of Fame Formulaic (HoFF). If a player exceeds 50, he should (objectively) be in the HoF. The author isn't exactly trying to convey that Bob is better than Bill because his HoFF is .18 points better. All it is is a qualifier.

For one, it's a relief to use simpler statistics. I like to escape from the world at WAR, wRAA, wOBA, UZR, and all the other things. I have noted several perceived flaws in his formula. However, you'll find that using the conventional stats, the same BBF-approved players end up on top and the same lauded guys don't make the cut.

Perhaps there's something to be learned in that fact.

[Iowanic]

Didn't Bill James have a system that with 100 points, the player was a 'likely' hall-of-famer? How is this one different?

I beleive James's system is still refered to in his yearly 'baseball handbook' publication.

[Tyrus4189Cobb]

Didn't Bill James have a system that with 100 points, the player was a 'likely' hall-of-famer? How is this one different?

I beleive James's system is still refered to in his yearly 'baseball handbook' publication.

It is different. You'd have to read the book or email the author